Work is a Drag 
by kirasmommy

"What am I doing here? I'll tell you what I'm doing here. My sleep schedule 
is all messed up because of that stupid job I got fired from this morning. I 
worked night shift for the last five months and now I can't sleep tonight. 
So I'm sitting here with you trying to forget the world's worst job." 

"Hey don't scoff like that. It isn't like you work! I don't consider 
skulking around at night trying to scare girls from the dorms as work." 

"Bartender one beer and one Bloody Mary...AB positive. Might as well use up 
my last check in a good cause. To end sobriety for my fellow man and myself, 
well you are a vampire but you come close." 

"Drink up my blood sucking fiend I mean friend. Whichever, its appropriate. 
So want to hear the horror story that is my life? It might be good to give 
you a laugh. Maybe. You seem to like it when we are miserable so this should 
give you the jollies big time. Okay my night started when I woke up to Anya 
breaking up with my sorry ass. Because I've been working night shift that 
means I sleep during the day. I was actually beginning to wonder if I had 
been turned and someone forgot to tell me. You know I'm usually the last to 
know these things. It would be my luck to be a vampire and no one told me 
for the first few months. Not that anyone would notice probably." 

"Anyway I worked at that gas station on the corner of Wood and Main." 

"Anyway because I've been sleeping during the day and been gone every night 
we haven't been um...you...know? Well we haven't been and she got it into 
her head that either I don't want her or that I'm seeing someone on the 
side. Which is RIDICULOUS! Because even if I did want to cheat...when would 
I have had time? I'm too TIRED!" 

"So there I am going to work after she breaks up with me and guess what? I 
forgot about the time change! I arrive an hour LATE! My fault I admit it I 
screwed up but it is an understandable screw up I mean everyone else arrived 
late too so I don't know why I got zeroed in on. Little Miss 
Perky-perfect-sleeping-with-the-boss didn't get into trouble! Oh no of 
course, she got a pat on the back before she left. I bet that isn't all he 
patted after she got off work last night! That was SO not fair! I mean not 
that she sleeps with him but that she gets away with murder and I got dumped 
on." 

"Oh how do I know she sleeps with him? You mean besides catching them going 
at it in the back? Oh one day he left his address book behind and it 
accidentally fell open...to all of the pages one at a time. I swear it was a 
freak occurrence so stop with the evil smirk! Anyway I happened to glance at 
each page as that...um...mysterious wind...turned each page. And out of 
everyone that works for him HERS is the only address in it and it was 
circled and had a BIG ass star beside it. Anyway to move on I had to deal 
with a very rude customer. I hate selling lottery by the way. Hate it, hate 
it, hate it, and hate it! Have I mentioned yet that I hate lottery? It is 
those stupid little rub off tickets that are the worst! The validation 
machine is turned off about 20 minutes into my shift and every one knows 
this, there is this giant sign right over my window and I told the idiot 
every time he came up that the machine would be shut down soon. So he just 
keeps buying and buying and buying tickets...he buys them then walks away 
and scratches them off then buys more saving all the winners up apparently. 
So about ONE MINUTE after I turn the damn machine OFF he wants to have them 
all validated! Oh he was so mad. He threatened me and kicked at the cage 
door. We call that area where we stand behind the bulletproof glass the cage 
by the way. Anyway he tries to come through the cage, of course he couldn't 
so instead he goes home and apparently calls my manager who is home for the 
night and tells him that I shut the machine down ten minutes before it was 
time. I SO did not!" 

"Bartender more booze!" 

"Want anything different or keep with the Real Bloody Mary's? Okay set him 
up barkeep!" 

"Oh did I mention that the uniforms were neon orange? Neon orange with a 
neon green strip down the middle. Oh so lovely...and you thought I had bad 
dress sense? I wonder if the guy that designed that was blind! At least 
color blind! God, Hawaiian shirts are the height of fashion compared to 
these travesties of cloth. My theory is that if a gunman comes into the 
store they want to make sure he shoots the right person." 

"Woohoo boy this stuff really kicks in after a while don't it? Hey what does 
that taste like? Oh tangy like someone left a spoon in it too long. Have you 
ever licked a spoon for a long time, it tastes a little like that. I like 
the celery, nice touch. No? I guess I'm the only one that has ever licked 
spoons. I'll have a Bloody Mary...but put tomato juice in it for me." 

"Anyway I am supposed to clean the shelves both on top and underneath them 
where the candy is. So that meant I needed to remove the shelves each time. 
So I start doing that and I lay the shelf on the floor because that is the 
only place I have room and all of a sudden everyone in Sunnydale decides 
that they MUST have a pickle, a slim Jim, a pack of cigarettes, AND a 2 
liter of pop! So that means that each time someone comes to the door I have 
to run back into the cage lock my door, and then unlock the outside door to 
let the customer in. Then they leave I lock the outside door go out of my 
cage check to make sure the outside door is locked then get one swipe of the 
washcloth in before having to run back into the cage! So this is going on 
and most people are avoiding this shelf that is on the floor. So this one 
guy that comes in every night decides that he is going to get a donut and 
SLIPS on the shelf on the floor! So now I have this guy telling me that he 
is going to sue me and my boss for his back. So I get another lovely little 
call from my manager." 

"Are you going to finish that Bloody Mary? At this point I don't care...I'll 
just pretend I've had a nosebleed we can't let good booze go to waste! There 
is a law...or something...isn't there? So gimme! Hey something is wrong with 
my alignment I'm pulling to the left." 

"Anyway it gets to be time that I need to stock the pop right? Guess what 
shift hadn't stocked it at all on their shift? I checked their sheets they 
put out NONE...and there was a big sale buy one get one free so I had to 
stock almost ALL the pop except for diet Dr. Pepper and Diet Pepsi...we 
couldn't move that crap if we paid people to take it! So I'm going to the 
back to get more pop and I notice that there is an inch of water in the 
back. An inch of HOT water. I look up at the water heater thing-y and it 
looks like someone had tried putting masking tape around where it was 
leaking then wrapped it with rags." 

"So guess who had to make a call to the manager himself? That's right ME! 
And who got blamed for having to call out a repairman in the middle of the 
night at one AM in the morning? ME! So I have the manager there in person 
now and the repairman and they are both giving me the evil eye like it is MY 
fault and what happens? My manager leans against the doorframe and it 
crumbles! The store has termites! So I had to listen to my manager rant and 
rave before calling the big boss, The owner. By this time I'm about to pass 
out because I am so damn tired. I hadn't had any coffee or pop all night. So 
I'm trying to do busy work to keep from getting in more trouble so I start 
washing down the walls of the cage. I had noticed they were a little dingy. 
So I start to clean and the owner comes in to check on the repairman and 
notices that the walls are going from tan to bluish gray. So now the owner 
starts reading the manager the riot act for allowing smoking in the cage. I 
didn't know that they weren't allowed to smoke! No one told me! So the 
manager is so glaring at me after the owner leaves because she is one of the 
main offenders." 

"So the manager finally leaves thank God. Another Bloody Mary 
please...um...I don't care...surprise me just don't leave out the vodka I 
don't care which kind you give me." 

"So by the time the manager is leaving the bars are letting out. There are 
three bars in the neighborhood. One is a biker, one is a demon bar and the 
other is a gay bar. And I'll tell you the truth it is getting tougher to 
tell which bar people are coming from! Not that I really mind to tell the 
truth. The other night a cute little thing came in that would knock your 
socks off I'm telling you that she...he...whatever had a body that was to 
die for...in your case...to die for again. Recently some Drag Queens have 
been coming in on a regular basis. They are pretty cool. Just don't get one 
mad. Yikes. Anyway some of them are really pretty. Not that I ever seriously 
thought about going out with any of them. Well, not really, I mean there was 
this one. Looked like Buffy but that would have been just too weird. For 
weeks though I kept wondering what was under Buffy's skirt. Like maybe she 
has a secret? Never mind. Um." 

"Anyway a demon drag queen came in last night. Oh I knew it was a demon. I 
mean that the five eyes kind of gave it away. The ten tentacles did too. 
How did I know it was a male? Well, it's boob fell out onto the counter that 
kind of clued me in. Anyway he, she, whatever starts hitting on me! Maybe 
Anya had just broke up with me but I'm not that desperate! I do have 
standards. Five eyes are a little excessive to me. Not to sound speciesist. 
I just mean that I prefer only two...okay three at the most. Well all right 
there was that one time where four eyes...but five is beyond my limit. Got 
to say he was kinda sweet. The tentacles were...um...interesting too." 

"Anyone ever tell you that you have beautiful eyes? Corillian, corellian, 
cerulean whatever BLUE! The most beautiful shade of blue! And when they are 
all big and wide like that you look so innocent." 

"What's wrong? You look pale...well paler." 

"Anyway so he is hitting on me and I'm wondering why do demons have cars? I 
mean shouldn't they be skulking around dark alleys walking instead of 
driving really cool sports cars? He offered me a ride but I turned him down. 
He winked four of his five eyes at me before he gave me his number. I didn't 
keep it though." 

"I bet you would look good dressed up. I bet sapphire or emerald velvet 
would look great on you!" 

"Are you okay? You almost fell off your stool!" 

"I bet you would look like a really young version of that old lady on 
Mulberry! Huh? Mulberry is a British comedy...you really need to brush up on 
your heritage. Anyway she is all regal looking with high cheekbones like 
you. I bet we wouldn't even have to put much make up on you." 

"Did you burn yourself? You should be careful lighting cigarettes. You 
almost set your hand on fire." 

"Anyway I got fired this morning and the reason they ended up giving was 
that I forgot to make coffee this morning and the coffee pot got burnt along 
the bottom." 

"You know? I have a couple of dresses that didn't fit Anya at my place I bet 
they would fit you." 

"Are you okay? I've never heard of a vampire choking before. I also have a 
cute little cheerleader outfit you could try. You know, shake your pom poms 
at me. Aw come on it would only be for a second, trust me I would help you 
get out of the clothes real fast. Let's go to my place hmm? Nice and warm. 
No I only have two hands I didn't grow more why do you ask? I bet you would 
look real nice! Please, I'll do puppy dog eyes! Please?" 

"Bartender this should cover the bill...we've got...stuff...to do." 


The End...